The journey of discovering the needs of your body, as well as documenting the changes you feel once these needs are met, is a crucial part of maintaining balance and leading a healthy lifestyle. Thus, during this assignment, I did my best to define the aspects of my diet that needed to be changed to feel better. One of the major insights taken from this analysis was the extent to which m body was dependent on sugar. For the sake of losing excess weight as well as preventing the dramatic complications of sugar, the first dietary habit I wanted to change was the amount of added sugar intake by replacing sugary items of fruit that contain less sugar. Thus, while I was able to consume less sugar during the day, I still could not help eating sugary products as an afternoon or evening snack.
As far as my weight is concerned, I cannot say that I am currently dissatisfied with my body image. For my body, weight, and height, my BMI is currently 28.2, and no major changes were indicated during the post-assessment stage. While there are no serious concerns regarding my weight at this stage, I would like to normalize my BMI by balancing nutrition and physical exercise, as later in life, the metabolism slowdown will make it harder to lose weight and manage my dietary habits.
At the beginning of the assessment, I was determined to follow all the dietary and exercise recommendations, but I soon realized that such a radical change was not always compatible with my working and sleeping patterns. To begin with, fruit and sugar-containing products intake are more beneficial before the afternoon, as sugars need more time to digest. However, since I was not able to have a proper breakfast, the first meal of the day was scheduled for the afternoon. Another primary challenge concerned the amount of physical exercise taken during the day. Undeniably, as a nursing assistant, I frequently move and walk during the day, but I am not used to taking separate physical activities such as fitness, aerobics, running, or cardio workouts.
When comparing my eating habits to the ones outlined in the recommendations on the “MyPlate” platform, it became evident that my dietary patterns were similar to the ones recommended, especially as far as calorie intake was concerned (US Department of Agriculture, 2021). However, the fundamental differences were in the number of carbs and vegetables consumed. Hence, I intended to cut on such simple carbs as white bread and pastry to avoid weight gain and blood sugar spikes while increasing the vegetable intake due to its ability to accelerate metabolism. As a result, I managed to keep up with this plan and replace simple carbs that made me hungrier with nutritious and safe vegetables.
Generally, when looking back at my assessment, I could say that I made progress in terms of tracking carb and sugar intake daily. However, such aspects of a healthy diet as physical exercise, minimization of late evening snacks, and having a schedule for daily meal intake still need more personal effort to be achieved. While completing this assessment, I realized that the lack of willpower is a major obstacle in the way to changing my dietary habits. Thus, despite the already existing progress, this assessment has helped me feel more empowered and motivated to take control of my nutrition for it not to take control over me.
Reference
US Department of Agriculture. (2021). MyPlate. Web.